


Make 'Em Count

by nothingwithoutyouxo



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 20:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17711216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingwithoutyouxo/pseuds/nothingwithoutyouxo
Summary: The Winter Formal didn't go entirely the way Tyler expected it to.





	Make 'Em Count

**Author's Note:**

> I swear on my life that these two would be good together. This doesn't entirely work with canon, but honestly I take canon with a grain of salt. This is set at the Winter Formal in season one. There's a specific shot where the camera focuses on Tyler and then pans over to Alex sitting alone on the bleachers and ... my brain made This happen because of it.

 

Tyler could only tell it was getting late because the dance was starting to wind down. At some point, Tony had switched to his playlist of slow songs to round off the rest of the night. The people still dancing had partnered off, either swaying slowly to the music, holding onto each other or keeping up quiet conversations. Or making out like their life depended on it. He tried his best to avoid that. The gym was slowly starting to empty out, drunk friends dragging their even drunker friends through the doors and home for the night with the hope that their parents wouldn’t notice. Couples were racing off hand in hand. He kept up his rounds. He’d stopped initiating conversations over an hour ago. Hannah brushing him off earlier really seemed to be the start of a trend, so he’d drifted off to the sidelines for the most part. Instead, he was focusing on shots that didn’t require him asking people to smile. He was just as good at those. He moved around a few couples and pointed his camera towards Tony, hoping to get him in his element while he was changing a song. Ryan was still with him. He’d stuck to Tony’s side for most of the night, the two of them managing to talk over the music, drinks in hand. Tyler took a few shots and then turned back towards the floor.  
  
“So what happens when you’ve taken enough photos?”  
  
He startled. He hadn’t expected anyone to talk to him. Usually no one did. Unless they were eager to be in the yearbook for some reason. He lowered his camera and realised that it was Alex who’d spoken. Whatever he’d said, Tyler forgot it immediately. Alex rarely spoke to him directly. Especially when he was alone. “What?” Was all the response he could give.  
  
Alex smiled, and shrugged. “It’s been hours.”  
  
The gesture wasn’t as calm as usual. Alex was known for emitting a very strong ‘I Don’t Care’ vibe, but for some reason that didn’t seem to be the case tonight. Tyler found himself kind of worried about him. He wasn’t sure how, or even if, he should ask if Alex was ok. “And?” he asked instead, unsure where this conversation was going.  
  
“And who cares about photos at this point.”  
  
He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be an insult. He gave his go to answer for whenever someone questioned him and his camera. “They’re for yearbook.”  
  
“I know but -“ he paused and looked around the room. He definitely seemed to be on edge tonight. “You haven’t danced with anyone.”  
  
Whatever Tyler had been expecting him to say, it wasn’t that. He had no idea why it mattered. It wasn’t like anyone ever cared what he did. “Neither have you.”  
  
“How would you know that?”  
  
_Shit._ “I - I see everything. It’s my job. Student life photographer. Remember?”  
  
Alex rolled his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, glancing around the room again. “Dance with me,” he said. It wasn’t quite a question.  
  
Tyler couldn’t help but wonder if this was a prank at this stage. There was no way this was real. There wasn’t a logical explanation for it that he could think of. “What?”  
  
“You heard me.”  
  
“Did you lose a bet or -“  
  
He shook his head. “No.”  
  
Tyler swallowed. He could barely register what was happening. Part of his mind was still thinking about photography, about the shots that he was probably missing while having this conversation. About how he didn’t have that much longer to get many of them. Part of him really didn’t want to care. “I don’t really dance,” he muttered. He wasn’t sure if he was being defensive or not. He wasn’t really sure of anything.  
  
Alex didn’t take the bait. “Neither do I.”  
  
“Then why ask?” None of this made sense. Did Bryce spike the punch again? He couldn’t remember drinking any of it. Maybe Alex had. Maybe that’s why he seemed kind of weird.  
  
Alex just shrugged in response.  
  
Before Tyler could think of anything else to say they were interrupted by Tony’s voice over the sound system. “Last two dances. Make ‘em count,” he called.  
  
There was a cheer from the room. Tyler squeezed his camera in his hands, felt the metal dig in the skin of his palm just a little. So this was real. He tried to think of why Alex would be doing this. He looked passed him, tried to see if any of his friends were in a corner laughing at them. He was pretty sure that Alex was supposed to have a date tonight. Or an almost date, since everything with the list had gone down.  
  
“If this is some weird way to make Jess jealous or something -“ he trailed off.  
  
“Come on, you know she’s not even here.”  
  
He was right. Jess has left with Hannah not too long ago. His eyes found Monty and darted away again before he could notice. “Monty still is,” he said.  
  
Alex cracked a smile. “I’ve never been scared of Monty.”  
  
Tyler didn’t know how to say that he still was. That he always was. Alex didn’t say anything else and Tyler was starting to feel the pressing weight of every second that passed around them. All the noise in the room seemed very far away. After a moment, Alex took a step closer to him and Tyler had no idea what to do.  
  
“You can still say no,” he muttered.  
  
Tyler wasn’t sure if he could say anything. He shrugged instead. Alex grabbed his hand and pulled him closer by the waist. He had no idea how to respond. His eyes found Monty again. He wasn’t paying them any attention, just talking amongst his friends. Tyler couldn’t help but think that he’d probably kill him if he looked up at the wrong time.  
  
“You can put your hand on my shoulder,” Alex said.  
  
He did. “This is the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Tyler had no idea why he’d expected him to say more than that. “Is there a reason that you’re doing this?” he asked.  
  
“Do I need a reason?”  
  
“Yeah. I think so.” Considering how weird this whole thing was. Considering the fact that he was acting kind of strange. He definitely needed some kind of reason.

Alex paused. He seemed to be thinking his answer over. Tyler wondered how long he could hold eye contact before it became uncomfortable. “I’m looking for something.”  
  
He swallowed. This was suddenly a much more serious moment than he thought it would be. “What for?”  
  
“My will to live. Have you seen it?”  
  
He should have expected an answer like that. He laughed anyway. “That’s not funny.”  
  
Alex shrugged. He seemed a little more relaxed now. Tyler couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen him smile more than once. “What if my reason was just that I wanted to?” he asked.  
  
“I - that makes no sense?”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“It just doesn’t seem like you.”  
  
Alex somehow managed to pull Tyler even closer to him. Tyler wondered if he heard the breath catch in his throat. “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”  
  
He was supposed to know everything about everyone. That was kind of his thing. “You know when you inevitably forget this by Monday it’s going to be really weird for me to look back on,” he muttered.

“What makes you think I’m going to forget?”

Suddenly the music stopped. Tyler stepped away from Alex before he even realised what he was doing, before anyone could see them. He grabbed onto his camera again, using it to ground him.

“Have a good night, Liberty High!” Tony called over the speakers.

Tyler wasn’t sure what to do. There were voices all around him. Everyone was starting to shift, heading to group up with friends and leave the gym. Alex hadn’t so much as moved.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “I think I found what I was looking for,” he said. Tyler wished he had any clue what that could possible mean. Then, just as quickly as he’d appeared, Alex started walking away.

Tyler didn’t know if he should stop him. He didn’t know if he wanted to. He was just rooted to the spot in shock.

“Hey, Tyler,” a hand clapped him on the shoulder.

For a second, he thought it was Monty coming to kill him and panicked. Then he looked up at just saw Jeff smiling down at him.

“You ok?” he asked. “You seem kind of shaken.”

He wondered if Jeff had any idea what happened. Whenever Tyler saw him he was either with Leah or sitting on the bleachers with Clay. If he knew anything about Jeff it was that he was the type to notice things. Tyler wasn’t sure if there was a glint in his eye or if he was looking too far into it now. “Weird night,” he said.

“Get a lot of pictures?”

He nodded. It wasn’t something that needed saying. Somehow he thought that even Jeff knew that.

“Any of me and my girl?”

“Too many.”

Jeff just beamed at him. His positive energy was contagious and somehow calming. Tyler found himself smiling too. “You need a ride home?” he asked.

He kind of wished he did. “My mum’s picking me up.”

He shrugged. “See you around then.”

“Yeah.” 

“Send me some of those pictures later. Like, tomorrow or something.”

He just nodded. Jeff waved and then headed off, slinging an arm around Leah’s shoulders as he went. The two of them were disgustingly cute. Tyler couldn’t quite hate it.

“Hey, you know you can leave right?” Tony asked, coming to a stop next to him.

Immediately he had that irrational feeling that Tony was just trying to get rid of him. Even if that never seemed like his intention. “Just thought I’d check if you needed any help packing up,” he said.

“If you don’t mind hanging around. There’s a lot of shit to take back to my car.”

He nodded and followed Tony back to where Ryan was carefully putting Tony’s cassette tapes back into a cardboard box.

“So what happened with you and Alex tonight?” Ryan asked, not even looking up at him.

Tyler felt a wave of fear crash over him, then Ryan looked up at him and laughed.

“Hey, relax, I’m not making fun of you. I’m just curious. I’ve never seen him approach anyone like that before.”

He wasn’t really sure what to say. “I haven’t either.”

“Yeah? You see everything so that’s extra weird.”

“He seemed off,” he said. “If that makes any difference.” Tyler took the heap of cables that Tony was holding out to him, and put them in the box that he was instructed to.

“Hmm,” he muttered, closing the lid on the box. “He didn’t really look off from up here. Tony, what’d you think?”

Tony shrugged, moved and picked the box up. Tyler didn’t have to ask to know that he didn’t trust anyone else with his tapes. “I think he’s had a weird time lately, but that doesn’t have to take anything away from tonight.”

Tyler thought that over while Ryan muttered something in agreement. “I think he’ll forget by Monday,” he said.

Ryan shook his head. “Don’t be so sure.”


End file.
